


Watchtower

by YaguraKaratachi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Background Relationships, Fix-It, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 11:49:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14424798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaguraKaratachi/pseuds/YaguraKaratachi
Summary: What if Yagura had a chance to make things right? What if the Hidden Mist Village wasn't forced to live under a dictator? What if the village was reformed long before the Fourth Great Ninja War?orAu where Obito is a little too late to control Yagura.





	Watchtower

Yagura was stressed. Stressed to the point where he had a blinding headache and sleep was a thing of the past. He was usually able to work through such conditions, but today was an anomaly. After a week of boring paperwork and random emergency evacuations (which were all false alarms) among other things, he was more than ready to give up on being Mizukage completely.

It was showing in his work as well. For the past few hours all of his paperwork had some sort of flaw in it. It got to the point where Seiko Kiyobashi, his assistant, had to check through everything he signed. It led to a vicious cycle of Yagura making a mistake and his assistant pointing it out, only for him to make another. Throughout the whole day, only five papers had made it out of his office without a problem.

“Mizukage-sama, I think we should take a break.”

Yagura looked up at Kiyobashi with a look of pure exasperation. Chances were his latest work was full of mistakes as well. It was the only explanation for why she had such a taut look on her face.

“You’re right,” Yagura said and pushed the stack of papers aside. He rested his head on his desk and let out a long, exaggerated sigh. Today was going absolutely horrific and it made him want to give up. Just stop being Mizukage for a day and instead go home and down a bottle of vodka. God knows that’d be better than sitting here and suffering.

A few minutes had passed when Kiyobashi spoke up. “Mizukage-sama?” She said, her voice a little softer than usual. When Yagura looked up, she was running her fingers through her black, bobbed hair. It was something she only did when nervous.

“Do you need something?” Yagura’s interest was piqued at this point. Kiyobashi didn’t get nervous often. She held her head high and would ask blunt questions without a second of hesitance. If she was actually fidgeting, it could be something concerning or actually rude

“Well..might you have any hobbies?”

Oh.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a rude question nor reason for concern. Yagura, however, didn’t exactly have hobbies, so he was at a loss of words. He spent his days cooped up in the Mizukage office then went home and either slept or got blackout drunk. Neither of those are exactly something you’d pass up as a hobby.

Kiyobashi must have expected as much, too, or else she wouldn’t have been nervous to ask such a simple question. Yagura buried the small amount of shame he felt and decided to answer with a half-lie.

“O-of course! I, the Great Mizukage-”

“Well, I just wanted to say I’d recommend gardening.” Kiyobashi cut him off in the middle of his poor excuse. “It can be rather relaxing.”

Yagura considered scolding her, but she just saved him from embarrassing himself. Not to mention he was interested in the topic at hand. 

“Gardening?”

“You do seem as if you’d enjoy it.”

Yagura took a moment to think about it. He did love flowers, but he wasn’t quite sure he’d have enough time to care for some. Being Mizukage was a demanding job, after all. Then again, flowers aren’t hard to care for, right? You just need to water them.

Yagura pursed his lips. “I’ll consider it. For now, we should get back to work. Our break has lasted long enough.”

Kiyobashi pushed up her thick rimmed glasses. “Yes sir.”

-  
After work, Yagura decided that he’d humor Kiyobashi and attempt gardening. She likely suggested it as a sort of calming activity since he was so stressed today. Besides, gardening is easy. There was definitely no way it could frustrate him more.

Yagura stepped into the small, cozy flower shop. It had multitudes of colorful plants lining the windows and pop music softly playing in the room. From inside to out the shop was decorated in cute, pastel colors and a sign with bubbly letters reading “Ikasabi Flower Shop” sat outside. It was a bit...disconcerting considering he preferred dark colors, but he wasn’t exactly there to critique some citizen’s shop.

“Hello! Welcome to Ikasa...M-Mizukage-sama!”

The girl behind the counter went pale as soon as she realized who he was. She immediately started bowing repeatedly in a mix of respect and apology.

“I-I’m so sorry Mizukage-sama!” she said, her brown pigtails bouncing. “I didn’t realize it was you! Please forgive me for greeting you so casually!”

Yagura let out a hearty laugh. “No need to fear! I, the Great Mizukage, am a forgiving person.” He gave the girl a small smile which she completely missed since she was still bowing.

“Er..you can stop bowing now. I’m not going to get angry over something so small.”

“Y-you’re not…?”

Yagura’s face turned expressionless and he settled on looking at flowers instead of answering.

“Ah- let me know if you need help finding anything!”

-

The rest of the visit went in a similar fashion. Yagura would do something, the cashier would say something rude and blunt, and then he’d have to force himself to ignore what was said. The entire setting was testing his patience. Really, it took all his strength not to get visibly upset.

...Upset in an angry way, that is. He wasn’t going get distressed just because some civilian didn’t have manners.

Yagura spent about ten minutes in the shop before buying a small pack of seeds and leaving in a brisk manner. He settled on getting a pack of sunflower seeds since he was familiar with the plant. He’d seen many during diplomatic trips to the Land of Fire and had absolutely fallen in love with them. He’d never seen them in or around the Mist Village, however, and held a small amount of pride in being the first to grow them.

As soon as he got home, he made a few small holes in his backyard and put around 3 seeds in each spot. He watered the patches of dirt before going inside to finish work.

Over the next few days, he developed a routine. After coming from his office, he’d head to his backyard to water his plants before going in to rest. For the first week the flowers showed no progress of growing which didn’t really bother him. The seed packet mentioned it took around 7-10 days to sprout. However, by the second week he was a bit suspicious. None of his plants seemed to be growing. He tried changing how often he watered them, but that didn’t help. 

He was starting to get frustrated again, and it was showing in his work. Another day had started and he had a stack of papers to fill out, most of them being from the past few days. As soon as he sat down at his desk, he let out a sigh.

“Mizukage-sama, I apologize for intruding, but have you attempted gardening yet?” Kiyobashi’s question was innocent enough. She was most likely concerned considering he was showing signs of stress again. It was rather ironic how her idea of a relaxing hobby added to his frustration.

“I have,” Yagura replied with a slight depressive tone. “It seems I’m not meant for it.”

“Why, I do believe that’s nonsense. I think everyone is able to garden if they know the proper steps.” Kiyobashi pushed the stack of papers away from Yagura so he’d focus more on the conversation. “Now, tell me about your plants.”

Yagura frowned. He didn’t exactly want to talk about his sunflowers. Not because they weren’t growing. It was because he had work to do. “Kiyobashi, I don’t appreciate your attempt to distract me from work. As the Great Mizukage, I have a lot to do and-”

“Excuse my bluntness, but I don’t think you’ll get any work done in this state. I also have your future well-being in mind when doing this. Please, if you will, tell me how your gardening has been going.”

Yagura would never admit it, but he was a bit...weak when people were so strong-willed. Their determination and excitement seemed to completely outdo his which made it hard to say no. In other words, if not for Kiyobashi’s sternness and his kindness, he would’ve told her off again. Those conditions weren’t met, though, so of course he started talking about his failed plants.

“I...planted a few sunflowers two weeks ago,” Yagura mumbled. “They...haven’t been growing.”

“Mizukage-sama,” Kiyobashi started and Yagura felt a blush rise to his cheeks. There was an amused tone in her voice and he didn’t quite like where things were going.

“It is just my opinion, but I don’t think sunflowers will grow well in a village where there isn’t much Sun.”

Yagura grumbled. Just like he expected, things were heading in a direction he didn’t like. “Are you making fun of me? I can have you executed, you know.”

Yagura’s words held no vice and the blush was still evident on his face, however Kiyobashi stiffened slightly and her playful side disappeared in an instant. Yagura felt slight disappointment at her change personality. He brushed it off in an instant, however.

Kiyobashi cleared her throat. “Getting back on topic, even if your sunflowers failed, I can still give you tips based on how you took care of them. Tell me about your planting process.”

“Well, I dug a few holes and put around 3 seeds in each-”

“With sunflowers it is more ideal to have one seed in each hole. With other plants, however, planting multiple seeds in once place is a good idea.”

“I-I see...After that, I started watering them-”

“Ah, good, watering your plants is important. Even so, there’s more to do than just watering.”

“Wait, really?!”

The conversation continued in a similar manner until the end of the day. By the time Yagura was walking home, he had one new pack of seeds (which were hydrangeas), 3 new books on gardening, and still zero progress on his work.

Once he got home, he had a quick dinner before diving straight into one of the gardening books titled Gardening For Dummies. Ignoring the crude name, however, it was actually rather useful. It expanded on many of the things Kiyobashi told him and helped him understand a few key concepts. He ended up enraptured and finished the book at 1 AM. Afterwards, he planted a few seeds and then went to bed.

-

The next day, Yagura came into his office a little more tired than usual. He was yawning excessively which, of course, Kiyobashi inquired about.

“Mizukage-sama, I assume you didn’t get much rest last night?”

“You’d be correct. I was handling...important business. It took longer than I expected.” 

“Ah, then you haven’t had time to read the books-”

“No! I had a little time...They’ve been helpful so far.”

And so the two spent another day talking about gardening. Yagura was starting to get a better grasp of gardening and it seemed to show. He understood a good portion of the things Kiyobashi mentioned, and when he didn’t, she’d explain without prompt. (Which, honestly, Yagura was very thankful for. He’d feel embarrassed asking questions.)

When the day ended Yagura had another book (this one on flower meanings) and an even bigger pile of unfinished paperwork.

-

The rest of the week continued in a similar manner. They’d talk about gardening and Yagura’s progress with his flowers. Eventually Kiyobashi began recommending more flowers. Yagura would always listen to the suggestions and within a month his entire yard was filled with sprouting or blooming flowers. 

It always put Yagura in a good mood. Taking care of his plants or simply admiring them helped him calm down. He was sure it’d help next time work got overwhelming.

“Kiyobashi, I’d like to thank you,” Yagura said as he walked into his office. As usual, Kiyobashi was standing next to his desk, a large folder in her hands. She was biting the edge of a pen but stopped immediately when Yagura entered.

Yagura continued. “Gardening is much more calming that I thought it’d be. I’m very appreciative of you for suggesting it.”

“Yes, well…” Kiyobashi started, her hand reaching up to fiddle with her hair. “I’m rather happy knowing I’ve helped, but now we need to catch up on work.

“Of course.” Yagura took a seat at his desk. “We have been out of commission for a while. Tell me, how much paperwork do I have?”

Kiyobashi let out a long sigh and placed the folder on his desk. “At least a month’s worth.”

Oh.

“We’ve missed prompts for meetings, business deals, requests for more funding in certain departments, questions from citizens...I’m sure there’s more but that’s what I can recall for now.”

Yagura stared down at the folder. It was packed to the point where it couldn’t close all the way. That didn’t seem like a month worth of work though. It was a week at best. Hopefully he could pull a few all-nighters and catch up-

“Ah, before I forget to tell you, that’s not all of the work. I organized all of the papers by category. That’s simply the mail from citizens. There are around six other folders.”

Yagura groaned and put his head on his desk. Thinking about the amount of papers in the other folders gave him a headache. There was no way he could finish everything with one or two days without sleep. This was way worse.

It seemed gardening wouldn’t help in this situation...

**Author's Note:**

> hi it's sin. me big gay for yagura so here is a slow-moving fix-it fic. things are boring right now but they'll pick up eventually i promise  
> follow my writing blog. it's 99% inspo reblogs and 1% writing
> 
> https://littlelees.tumblr.com


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